When Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish jihadis on board the lead ship of a Gaza-bound flotilla six weeks ago, Israel's enemies exhibited unusually fervid spasms of agitation. Never mind that about half the victims already had declared their aspiration to die at Israeli hands as violent "martyrs"; or that the organizers were part of an NGO that Western prosecutors and researchers have linked to terrorism. As with the Gaza war in late 2008, the case was presented as a black-and-white morality play, with Israel in the role of vicious marauder. Indeed, left-wing commentators could barely contain their glee at how these "martyrs" had passive-aggressively engineered an epochal shift in the balance of Middle Eastern power. "Israel's ill-fated boarding operation of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara has become a nightmare for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but a dream come true for the leaders of Hamas," reported The Globe & Mail's Patrick Martin. "It took the deaths of nine international activists, most of them Turkish, to make a difference."

Sorry, Patrick, but this "dream come true" now appears to have been short-lived. Though tarnished in the court of global opinion, Israel's embargo remains intact (though the Israeli government has decided to expand the list of permitted humanitarian imports). A copycat Iranian flotilla operation was scrapped in the face of Israel's proven resolve. And this week, the captain of a Libyan ship chickened out in similar fashion — sailing his cargo to Egypt instead of Gaza. Turkey is still sulking, and has demanded an official Israeli apology. But as The New York Times reported earlier this month, "in most other respects, it is still business as usual between the longtime allies."

Meanwhile, Israel's economy continues to outperform other Western economies: As Robert Fulford reported in Saturday's edition of the National Post, the "boycott, divestment and sanctions" campaign (which, Mr. Martin and other left-wing pundits tell us, is poised to bring the Jewish state to its knees) remains a fantasy of union activists and student street marchers.

CIJA is the advocacy agent of the Jewish Federations of Canada. CIJA is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of Jewish life in Canada by advancing the public policy interests of Canada’s vital and varied Jewish community. By building and nurturing relationships with target audiences in government, media, academia, and interfaith and ethnic communities, CIJA ensures greater understanding of the issues that impact the Jewish community.

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